After a five hour arrival back to Chicago from San Francisco and a five hour bus ride to Iowa, I was extremely tired yet excited for the learning opportunities to come....the next morning at 8:30 a.m. in the Old City Museum on the University campus of Iowa.

Lots of umbrellas and unfamiliar yet friendly faces arrived at the museum enjoying some fantastic pastries and coffee. Being there in the place of such incredible writers was a bit intimidating also a place with an older population.

As I was walking up the wooden spiral staircase, I just so happened to run into a woman from the bus who I was speaking with at the rest stop. She is from Argentina(which is my new country of interest) and she was sharing how therapy is widely accepted and if you don't have it people think you are weird. Wow can I move there immediately, speak Spanish, have my own practice, and tango the nights away? A girl can dream right or make that dream reality...She has a great spirit and I look forward to speaking more with her.

As for our short, but extremely funny orientation-we went straight to our four hour course split into two sessions. This is just a Saturday and Sunday Course. The following course is one weeklong.

Class: Illustrated Scenes of Nonfiction with Carol SpindelShe has been teaching at the conference for years and my peers had also been attending the writing conference. Also, ten of my classmates were twice my age or perhaps older, which is just fine because I enjoy learning, but the discussion shifts based off their generation not my own.

Not going to share everything about the day, but basically

1. Don't edit it while you write it2. Be specific and concrete taking a small edge from a topic3. Choose and choose aggressively4. Know your audience and don't write for your own5. Frame, unity, and conference

Realistically writers can be fantastic and down to earth or they are on their "publication pedestal." Being in one of the best writers scene, Chicago, I have met 90 percent great down to earth authors and editors, but that is just my experience thus far. It's just that somehow opposition(always resurfaces) especially in those moments of being productive and happy. If this is you, this means that you are on your path to success so keep going, smile, nod, and handle it with confidence rather than utilizing defense mechanisms from your back pocket.

If you succeed in facing opposition, then those good people will come your direction and reaffirm your own truth and character. That person was in my classroom. She sat next to me whispering in my ear, "You're a great writer don't listen to them." After class, I met two of her friends who were just as lovely, smart, and educated. They had been attending the writing festival for fifteen years and they were the experts. Over Indian food, they all let me have my own therapeutic moment(Priscilla needs this too:) and they confirmed that I wrote with passion, conviction, and reason. When you have confirmations that what you experienced was not what it should've or could've been-you feel empowered to keep trekking forward. "Chin up Priscilla and keep writing." Thankful for those that save me from the fall:)